Economic headlines greeting Joe Biden in Ohio this morning:

Furloughs may be next in Ohio county with 4-day wk
33 Columbus-area post offices among 3,000 facing closure
County budget slides deeper into red
Marion City Fire Dept. closes two stations
Xenia City Workers Face Budget Cuts
Bad News For Buckeye State’s Budget

It’s a great day to go before the public and call for “patience.”

There are many reasons for our economic woes, but we’re learning that a big one is that many states set up their budgets under the expectation that the good times would last forever. Then the economy slumped, tax revenue plummeted, and they found themselves with massive holes in their budgets. The stimulus provided states with billions upon billions, most of which are being used to plug these holes in short-term fixes. The problem is that we don’t know when state tax revenue will return to 2007 levels.

Either way, when money is being used to keep the currently employed still employed, it isn’t being used to create new ones.